The present invention relates to electronic commerce and in particular to an interactive computer system and method for conducting auctions over the Internet.
Buying and selling over the Internet is predicted to account for a significant percentage of commercial transactions for goods and services over the next decade. An important growth area in the field of electronic commerce are on-line auctions and there are currently numerous such facilities available on the Internet. Dedicated auction house Web pages advertise the merchandise to be auctioned and give details of the time period bids will be accepted and the current high bids. On accessing such a Web site, an interested party must first register at the site giving personal details such as name, address etc. and payment instructions such as credit card details for account settlement in the event of a successful bid. If the party wishes to bid for a particular merchandise lot for auction at that site, he must complete an on-line bid form which is then submitted by electronic mail to the auction house server where it is processed. The current bid price displayed on the Web page for the merchandise in question is updated in accordance with new bids received. On close of the auction, successful bidders are notified by electronic mail, payment is effected and the purchased merchandise is delivered in accordance with the payment and delivery instructions submitted on registration by the successful bidding party.
Although on-line auctions available over the Internet present considerable advantages over traditional auctions, in that they are accessible to a wider audience and do not necessitate physical presence at a particular location at a particular time, there are several difficulties and shortcomings associated with these facilities. Firstly, for a consumer interested in purchasing a particular item of merchandise at an auction, it is necessary to find on-line auction sites having such merchandise for auction. Since the majority of search engines currently available on the Web are general in scope, the average keyword search for “auction” and the “desired merchandise item” will produce thousands of “hits”, most of which have nothing to do with either auctions or the merchandise item in question but just happen to have those words buried somewhere in the web site text. Hence, a consumer may experience considerable difficulties in even finding a suitable on-line auction.
Secondly, on submitting a bid to the auction server, the bidder must regularly monitor the current high bid price on the auction house Web page in order to keep informed as to the progress of the auction. Since bids ate sometimes accepted over a time period of several hours, days or even weeks, a bidder may have to access the Web pages on several occasions in order to determine whether it is necessary to submit a higher bid. Even if an interested bidder waits until close to the deadline for accepting bids before submitting a bid higher than the current high bid price at that time, it can take considerable time for the bid to be delivered by electronic mail and there is a risk that the bid will not be processed in time or that a higher bid will be received and accepted before the deadline. Hence, unlike in a traditional auction where the physical presence of a bidder at the auction means that they can react immediately on a real-time basis, the ability of bidders to react as the auction progresses is severely restricted by network limitations.
For sellers too, current on-line auction facilities present considerable difficulties. Sellers must also search the Web for a suitable auction site at which to offer their merchandise for auction and again like bidders are unable to react as the auction progresses on a real-time basis. For example, if a seller decides close to the deadline for accepting bids to withdraw his merchandise from the auction or to change the minimum bid price that will be acceptable, the situation may well be out of his control in that there is no guarantee that the notice of withdrawal submitted by electronic mail will be reach the auction server and be processed in time.
Hence, there currently does not exist any easy method for enabling this important sector of electronic commerce to be performed by either consumers or providers. None of the facilities currently available are automated nor do they offer intelligent support to the user. Moreover, finding appropriate Internet auctions can be extremely difficult at present.